; and this
operation of nature has been observed by nature's children, and
employed by them as a sure guide in their long wanderings through the
pathless forests where they find a home.

The journey to New Plymouth was rather a long one; but the Sagamore and
his companions were each provided with a small quantity of their usual
travelling food, _nokake_--or meal made of parched maize--which they
carried, in true Indian fashion, in their hollow leathern girdles. When
they came to a pond, or brook, they paused to eat a few handsful of
this simple provision, which is so dry that it can only be swallowed
when either water or snow is at hand, ready to wash down each mouthful;
and, consequently, in summer the natives have sometimes to travel long
distances before they can avail themselves of the food that is already
in their hands.

Immediately on his arrival at New Plymouth, the Sagamore repaired to
the dwelling of Bradford; and, requesting a private interview--at which
no one was allowed to be present except the Wampanoge interpreter
Hobomak--he informed him of the conspiracy of the natives, and warned
him to be well prepared for the intended attack. Could he have given
this warning, and ensured the safety of his allies, without betraying
the whole of the conspirators' projects, he would gladly have done so;
for he both despised and hated the men of Wessagussett, and he was
willing that they should he treated as they seemed disposed to treat
such of his race as they could get into their power. He even made an
attempt to persuade Bradford to leave them to the fate they so well
deserved, and to connive at their destruction, which would remove an
increasing evil from the first colony.

But the President soon convinced him that such a course would be
altogether at variance with the precepts and principles of that
religion in which he gloried, and which it was his chief aim, and that
of all his Christian brethren, to exalt and make honorable in the eyes
of the natives: and that, therefore, no selfish considerations could
induce them to abandon their countrymen to destruction, notwithstanding
their ingratitude towards themselves, and their ill conduct towards the
Indians.

With this decision Masasoyt was extremely dissatisfied: but he could
not now withdraw the information he had imparted, even if he desired
it; and he also felt it to be most politic to secure the friendship of
the white men, even if it should involve the sa